Snapshot: May 17, 1890

More than a cen­tury after he was denied a law li­cense, Hong Yen Chang, a Chinese im­mig­rant, was ad­mit­ted Monday to the Cali­for­nia bar.

Of their de­cision, Cali­for­nia’s Su­preme Court justices wrote: “Even if we can­not undo his­tory, we can ac­know­ledge it and, in so do­ing, ac­cord a full meas­ure of re­cog­ni­tion to Chang’s path­break­ing ef­forts to be­come the first law­yer of Chinese des­cent in the United States.”

In this an­not­ated look at a page from the May 17, 1890, Los Angeles Times, we look back at cov­er­age of Chang’s case and the era in which he was denied.

Sources: Los Angeles Times archive